Tennis: Ball wins Racquet Club Invitational championship

Published 7:00 pm, Sunday, April 25, 2010

Carsten Ball came into Sunday’s final of the Racquet Club Invitational touted as one of the hardest servers in the world.

Ball lived up to that reputation as he blistered the ball on Stadium Court to take the Racquet Club Invitational title with a straight sets victory over Nicholas Monroe, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).

“It’s always nice to win a tournament. There’s nothing better than winning matches,” said Ball, who hails from Newport Beach, Calif., but also holds dual citizenship in Australia. “I haven’t played a lot of matches in recent weeks, but it was good to get out here. The elevation here helps my serve come through the court which is a big advantage for me”

Ball’s serve was on showcase in the first set as he pounded the ball to Monroe consistently and won the first five points, breaking Monroe twice. While Ball only recorded seven aces in the match, the velocity attached to his serve was enough to where Monroe couldn’t cleanly return it.

Meanwhile, Monroe struggled to get his own serve in during the first set, double faulting four times. Both of Ball’s break points came on Monroe double faults.

Monroe, who played collegiately at the University of North Carolina, focused on getting his first serve in play and began to follow his serve with strong volleying.

“Carsten was obviously serving really well, so I knew I had to be more aggressive with my serve in order to hold it,” said Monroe. “In the beginning, he was taking it to me early in the points. I served and volleyed a lot more and played much better.”

Monroe’s adjustment prevented Ball from earning a break in the second set.

“He mixed it up a lot and served and volleyed very well,” said Ball. “He was hitting his first volley where I could hardly get to them. He held me back from playing more aggressive which I was definitely wanting to do.”

Unfortunately for Monroe, he wasn’t able to do anything with Ball’s serve and the two played into a second set tiebreaker. Ball’s service game again proved too much for Monroe and the 117th-ranked player in the world scored the first six point of the tiebreaker.

With six match points, Ball played it somewhat safe and Monroe fought back to win the next four points. However, with the score 6-4, Ball charged the net and Monroe’s passing shot went long, securing the title for Ball.

Ball will represent Australia in the Davis Cup against Japan in two weeks and said he needed these matches in Midland to help him get ready for the competition.

“I lost on Thursday in Tallahassee,” said Ball. “I jumped at the chance to come here and play. I got here on Friday and started playing. Four matches is definitely better than none.”

Monroe has three consecutive weeks of tournaments awaiting him, starting with one in Vero Beach, Fla.